Utilization of wireless communication systems to communicate telephonically has achieved wide popularity in recent years. Because a wireline connection is not required to effectuate telephonic communication, communication by way of a wireless communication system is possible at a location to which formation of a wireline connection would be impractical or impossible.
A cellular communication system is a type of wireless communication system. When the infrastructure, hereinafter referred to as the network of the cellular communication system, is installed in a geographical area, a subscriber to the cellular system is generally able to communicate telephonically in the system when positioned at any location in the geographical area encompassed by the system.
Cellular communication networks, have been installed throughout significant portions of the world. Large numbers of subscribers to cellular communication systems formed of such cellular networks are able to communicate telephonically when positioned in areas encompassed by such cellular networks. Telephonic communication of both voice and data is typically permitted.
As increased numbers of subscribers make greater usage of cellular networks, during certain time periods and in certain areas, utilization of existing cellular networks has reached their maximum capacities. Capacity problems are sometimes first evident in areas of the cellular network positioned along highly-traveled roadways, particularly during morning and evening rush periods and in urban areas of significant population densities.
When a cellular network is operated at its maximum capacity, additional users desiring to utilize the cellular network are sometimes prohibited from accessing the network until those utilizing the cellular network terminate their communications therethrough.
Various measures have been proposed and implemented by which to increase the capacities of existing cellular communication networks.
For instance, some networks have been converted to permit their usage in an analog, narrowband, cellular system. In a narrowband system, the bandwidths of the transmission channels upon which signals are transmitted between a fixed-site transceiver and a remotely-positioned mobile terminal (i.e., the cellular phone) are reduced relative to the bandwidths of the transmission channels of a conventional, cellular communication network. Due to the reduced bandwidths of the transmission channels, a greater number of transmission channels are defined within the frequency band allocated for cellular communications.
To implement a narrowband system, however, the circuitry of the fixed infrastructure of a conventional, cellular communication network must be converted to permit its operation in a narrowband system. Mobile terminals (i.e., the cellular telephones) operable in the conventional network must similarly be converted to permit their usage in a narrowband system. Such conversion is relatively costly and typically requires substitution or replacement of existing circuitry with circuitry operable in the narrowband system.
Some other networks have been converted to permit the transmission and reception of digitally-modulated signals transmitted pursuant to a digital modulation technique in a digital, cellular system.
Use of a digital modulation technique permits efficient utilization of the transmission channels of the frequency band allocated for cellular communications. By utilizing a digital modulation technique, a single frequency channel can be used, e.g., by utilizing a time division multiplexing technique, to transmit more than one signal upon a single transmission channel. A several-fold increase in the capacity of a cellular communication network operable in a digital system over that of a conventional, cellular communication system is typically possible. To implement a digital system, however, the circuitry of the fixed infrastructure of a conventional, cellular communication network must be converted to permit its operation in the digital system. Mobile terminals operable in the conventional network must similarly be converted to permit their usage in the digital system. Such conversion is also relatively costly and typically requires the replacement of existing circuitry.
While both of such aforementioned manners by which to increase the capacity of a cellular communication network are well able to provide a significant increase in the capacity of the cellular communication network, the aforementioned manners by which to increase the capacity of the network permits such increase only at significant expense.
As mentioned previously, the density of usage of a cellular communication network is typically not uniform, but rather varies, for instance, according to the time-of-day and the position at which usage of the network is attempted.
When the capacity problems are primarily localized at particular portions of the geographical area encompassed by the cellular network, another manner by which to increase the capacity of the cellular communication network is sometimes utilized. By adding an additional fixed-site transceiver to the network, the capacity of the network is effectively increased.
By appropriate selection of the position at which the additional, fixed-site transceiver is located, areas of the cellular communication network which exhibit the greatest densities of usage, the capacity of the communication network can be most effectively increased. By including a plurality of additional, fixed-site transceivers to the cellular network, the capacity of the network can, at times, be correspondingly increased.
When an additional, fixed-site transceiver is added to an existing, cellular communication network, the transceiver is installed by making appropriate physical, or other, connections with the other infrastructure of the network. After installation, the fixed-site transceiver can be placed into service. To place the additional, fixed-site transceiver into service, however, the transceiver must be initialized with configuration data. For instance, various parameters of the transceiver must first be set. Parameters pertaining to, e.g., power levels at which signals generated by the transceiver are to be transmitted, bit rates of the transmitted signals, and received signals, all must be set.
Conventionally, to place the additional, fixed-site transceiver into service, technically-trained, operating personnel have been required to set the parameters of the personnel have been required to set the parameters of the additional, fixed-site transceiver. The need to utilize skilled personnel to set the parameters of the base station is, typically, fairly-costly. The personnel required to set the parameters must be technically-skilled, and the costs of such personnel can be quite significant.
A manner by which to place a fixed-site transceiver into service without requiring technically-skilled personnel to manually set the transceiver parameters would therefore be desirable.
It is in light of this background information related to wireless communication networks that the significant improvements of the present invention have evolved.